Waratahs: is the two playmaker system working?

There’s been plenty of comment on The Roar in the last couple of weeks regarding the combination of Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale at the Waratahs, so I had a closer look at how the two-playmaker system worked during their match against the Bulls last weekend.

The Waratahs started the match with an Israel Folau try in the first few plays and they dominated the first 35 minutes. However, some poor decision making and execution of skills, primarily from backline players, meant they couldn’t make more of the opportunities they created.

The Folau try was a result of excellent running lines, depth in support and passing execution. There was clearly space out wide, with so many Bulls players on the short side. The combination of Foley and Beale worked well, with Foley setting the play in motion and Beale being able to target space because he wasn’t constrained closer to the ruck where there were more defenders.

Beale started very deep and received the ball from Foley, passing behind Will Skelton.

If the play had stopped at the moment Beale received the ball, many would have been critical of the depth in the play. However, there is nothing wrong with depth as long as it is used at appropriate times and is not the only option used. Teams should vary their depth in attack – just as a team always starting deep doesn’t work, a team starting flat all the time doesn’t work either.

The depth of the support runners is key – they give Beale plenty of time to make decisions and commit defenders. If they weren’t as deep as you can see in the image above, Beale would have to make a pass too far back from the defensive line and the defenders could drift out to tackle the support runners.

With Beale running slightly across field (and there’s nothing wrong with that if it serves a purpose, as it does here), Adam Ashley-Cooper straightens the attack and runs into a hole. Due to the depth Ashley-Cooper started from, Beale doesn’t have to rush his pass and the timing between them is good.

From the image above it appears that the outside supporters are in the best position to get the ball from Ashley-Cooper but the defenders will try to cover that width. Folau recognises that and cuts back inside, but importantly he runs close to Ashley-Cooper who can therefore make a short pass.

Tick all the boxes for that play and within a very short time, I’m sure many of us were thinking, anything could happen here if the ‘Tahs are in form like that.

The next opportunity came when Beale only had forwards in support and again it was his angle across field that opened up the opportunity.

Of course that opportunity wasn’t completed, as the return pass from Skelton to Beale didn’t go to hand.

Beale created another opportunity with Folau not long after.

The timing there was just slightly off – Folau timed his run well but Beale held the pass back, double pumped while he thought about running himself and by the time he decided Folau was the correct option, Folau was past him.

With the Bulls in a narrow defensive pattern and their defensive end rushing up quite often, there was obviously space out wide and the Tahs tried a number of ways to get the ball into that space.

This pass worked well and the Tahs made a good break down the far touchline as a result.

In another example of good timing and running lines, Foley, Folau and Cam Crawford combined well in the following play.

The close line Crawford ran made it so much easier for Folau to execute that offload and again, the Tahs made good metres from this break. It’s amazing how often the support runner positions himself too far away or runs away from the pass which makes the final pass harder than it should be.

The space out wide was tempting and the Tahs started using variations on their previous plays to get the ball wide.

Beale was a decoy and an option to receive the ball – in either role he needed to straighten up. If he runs straight and hard at the hole in front of him, Foley can either pass to him or play behind him. By crabbing across field all he did was block Foley from making a pass to Folau, who was in clear space.

Beale took away all of the options for Foley. He had to know Folau and Rob Horne were outside him but seemed so intent on getting the ball himself that he failed to recognise others were in a better position.

Another variation involved Crawford as the distributor to get the ball wide to Folau.

This time it’s Folau who gets his timing wrong and is too flat for Crawford to make a pass without the risk of an intercept.

In both of those last examples, Foley and Crawford compounded the errors by throwing poor passes over the top that went forward.

The Bulls then came back into the match and the message from coach Michael Cheika at half time was obviously to tighten up their attack because we didn’t see the Tahs do too much with the ball throughout the rest of the match.

Beale is creating a lot of the opportunities for the Tahs but he won’t be able to do that as well if he moves closer to the ruck as flyhalf. As you can see from the examples, Foley is also contributing to the creation of many of these opportunities. Foley hasn’t played as well in 2014 as he did last year but I’m not sure if this is because of the two-playmaker system.

Beale went into first receiver 9 times when the Tahs were running the ball against the Bulls, while Foley went in 13 times. Those numbers don’t look as balanced as they should, so it probably would help Foley if Beale did sit back as the second playmaker a little more.

We haven’t heard yet whether Beale will be fit this week. If he’s not, it will be interesting to see whether Foley’s form is better.